Jul. 9--The Norfolk construction supplier that imported 150,000 sheets of Chinese-made drywall has shut its doors and laid off its 68 workers.

Venture Supply Inc. and its installation affiliate Porter-Blaine Corp. were named recently in three lawsuits over the use and distribution of the drywall, which homeowners blame for corroding household electrical systems and possibly causing respiratory illness.

Sam Porter, president of the local firms, said business all but dried up for his companies after the controversy over the wallboard erupted earlier this year. He closed up shop on June 30.

"I am finished," Porter said. "I was hoping that people would understand that I was trying to work with everybody, and keep the business afloat so I could continue on and deal with this stuff."

Near the height of the local building boom in 2006 amid shortages for construction supplies, Porter imported the drywall to keep up with demand. The firm said it distributed the material between March 2006 and December 2008.

Venture Supply is among a growing group of developers and other companies that have been sued in connection with use of the Chinese-made drywall. In Florida, homeowners have sued giant homebuilder Lennar Corp.

Among the allegations levied against Venture in lawsuits is that it was negligent for selling the drywall and not warning homeowners and customers that it was defective.

Porter said he had no reason to believe the drywall wasn't safe. The company has denied all the allegations in a court filing.

The local homeowners also recently named in the lawsuit Tobin Trading Inc., a firm run by Phillip W. Perry that brokered the $1.8 million deal between Venture Supply and Chinese drywall manufacturer Shandong Taihe Dongxin Co. Ltd., a company that appears to be owned by the Chinese government.

In recent months, Porter began the process of destroying nearly 50,000 sheets of the Chinese-made wallboard after local cities banned its use in construction projects.

He had hoped to lease out space in his Norfolk warehouse to help keep his businesses alive while resolving the legal disputes over the drywall. But as operating expenses and legal fees mounted, Porter said his bank decided to foreclose on his property and auction off his remaining assets.

"I don't believe in filing for bankruptcy," Porter said. "I'm going to pay off everything I owe. It's going to wipe me out."

Porter, 44, got into the drywall business when he was just 14, sanding and hanging sheets of wallboard himself while still attending Green Run High School in Virginia Beach.

Not long after graduating, he started his installation business out of a mini-storage unit where he stored small supplies of drywall and installation tools. Over the course of two decades, Porter poured his profits back into the business. In 2002 he moved to a $3 million, 80,000-square-foot warehouse on Azalea Garden Road.

At the height of the local building boom, his company's fleet of delivery trucks had grown to 20, his payroll grew to more than 200 employees, and annual sales eclipsed $35 million.

Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com

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